The Aspen Institute Announces 2011 Aspen Security Forum

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Aspen Institute Homeland Security Program announces its second annual forum on homeland security and counterterrorism, the 2011 Aspen Security Forum. More than 50 top-level current and former government officials, industry leaders, noted print and broadcast journalists, leading thinkers, and concerned citizens will discuss and debate the key issues in homeland security and counterterrorism. The forum will take place July 27–30 at the Institute's signature Aspen Meadows campus in Aspen, Colorado. The New York Times returns as the forum's premier media partner.

"There are many homeland security/counterterrorism-related conferences around the country, but none with the breadth and depth of the Aspen Security Forum, and with so many opportunities to engage key decision-makers and leading thinkers in this field. In this tenth anniversary year of 9/11, and with the threat of terror higher than at any time since 9/11, the forum promises to be even better than last year's," said Clark Kent Ervin, the Director of the Aspen Institute's Homeland Security Program.

Notable speakers confirmed to date include Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano; TSA Administrator John Pistole; Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas' Security Affairs Paul Stockton; Commander of US Special Operations Forces Admiral Eric Olson; State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism Ambassador Daniel Benjamin; Terrorist Screening Center Director Timothy Healy; former National Security Advisers Gen. Jim Jones and Stephen Hadley; former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales; former Director of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis Blair; former CIA and NSA Director Gen. Michael Hayden; former Acting and Deputy CIA Director John McLaughlin; former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; former White House Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Adviser Fran Townsend; former State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism Ambassador Cofer Black; former Deputy National Security Adviser for Combating Terrorism Juan Zarate; former Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism Finance Stuart Levey; Pakistani Ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani; Afghan Ambassador to the US Eklil Hakimi; UN Monitor for the Taliban and Al Qaeda Richard Barrett; and EU Coordinator for Counterterrorism Gilles de Kerchove.

The Oscar-nominated short film, Killing in the Name, a film about terror victims' and survivors' speaking truth to terror, will be screened, and a panel of terrorism experts (namely, the Steven Simon of the Council on Foreign Relations; CNN's Peter Bergen; and MSNBC's Evan Kohlmann) will discuss it with the film's co-producer Carie Lemack.

For a list of currently confirmed speakers, registration information, and sponsorship details, please, likewise, visit www.aspensecurityforum.org. Sponsors for the 2011 Aspen Security Forum to date are IBM and i2.

About The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute's Homeland Security Program works to heighten public awareness as to the nation's continued vulnerability to terrorism, and to persuade the nation to take the necessary steps to close the gap between how secure we should be and how secure we actually are. For more information, please visit www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/homeland-security.

The Aspen Institute mission is twofold: to foster values-based leadership, encouraging individuals to reflect on the ideals and ideas that define a good society, and to provide a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues. The Aspen Institute does this primarily in four ways: seminars, young-leader fellowships around the globe, policy programs, and public conferences and events. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. It also has an international network of partners.